Greetings from Markham
Ontario!
There is so much to talk about and I am not really sure where to
start. Forgive the all over the place-ness of this letter. First, my new
area. They split the old Richmond Hill area in two so my area is a
tiny bit confusing. I am in the Richmond Hill East Area but the city
of Richmond Hill isn't even part of my area. I'm in the next
city over called Markham and it is (according to the signs I see around)
Ontario's Most Diverse Community. Yep. That means that most of the people
we talk to are not from Canada (mostly Chinese) and most of
them don't speak English....it keeps things interesting for sure. I serve
in the Richmond Hill Ward which meets in Richmond Hill so we go to
church out of our area. Its fun. I have missed being in a ward. Less
drama and more member support. The ward is awesome and super diverse. I
spent the first half of Elder's Quorum thinking we were learning about the
Holocaust until I realized that the instructor (from Columbia) was saying Holy
Ghost, not Holocaust. He said his testimony was based on this and I was
very confused. Then I just felt dumb. I'll get used to it i guess. It is a
great ward and they are so excited to have two sets of missionaries. I'm just
worried we might start an East-West fight. :) The West side missionaries
are awesome and we see them all the time. Richmond Hill and Markham
are just north of Toronto. Five mintues south is Toronto and from a
couple points we can see the skyline, CN Tower and all. We aren't
in Stayner any more. There are 309,000 ish people in my area alone and
that isn't counting the people who are moving in by the thousands and the ones
outside of Markham. By comparison my last two areas
combined probably had about 50,000 tops. It is a big, BIG change.
Second, apartment. We call it the dungeon. Its a nice enough
place and I am happy to have a warm place to study and sleep etc but it is
weird. Weird weird. The average ceiling height is 6' 10" with a
plethora of random dips in the ceiling that are about 5' 8" the worst of
which is between the bedroom and the washroom. This wouldn't be to bad if there
were windows that let light in but we don't have them. There are three windows
and they are all super high (they cut the ceiling away) and are coverd by
bushes. Thats why it feels like a dungeon. And we don't get cell service which
makes receiving and making calls a difficult thing. Its super great. :)
Third, my new companion. His name is Elder Hegemann (Hay-ga-men)
and he is from Lehi. He is great. He is taller than me and has dark
hair and I will send pictures if I ever figure out my camera. We get
along great for the most part and he is a great missionary. I
hope I don't ruin him....fingers crossed.
Fourth, the work. In the old RH area they had like 5
investigators and 4 solid potentials. All but one investigator live on the West
side of the 404 (the dividing line) which is....awesome. So we have
one investigator named Vince and we haven't met him yet because
he was busy all last week. We haven't done much teaching and I'm
getting anxious. Due to the lack of people to teach we have been
doing a lot of tracting and talking to people. Which as explained above is
difficult because of the language barrier. We had a couple interesting
run-ins with interesting people. We had a very angry English man yell and curse
at us for knocking and ringing the doorbell and told us that we shouldn't
wear suits "You should were red capes like the devils you
are!!!" I thought it was kinda funny but it shook Elder Hegemann up
pretty bad. Then a few days later we stopped a guy on the street and he
was really friendly then randomly lost it and chewed me out for insulting the
Lord and being in a cult. Once again, I laughed it off and went on my way but
E.H. took it pretty rough. Poor Elder Hegemann. He'll build up a skin
eventually. :)
So yeah. Things are good. I survived the first week and I
am doing alright. My testimony of the guidance of the Spirit has
grown a ton and I can already see the changes in myself. When I look
in the mirror I feel like I look like a senior companion
now. Like I know what I am doing. I don't know if I do but at least
I look the part eh? I love you all very much and hopefully I will have good
news in the next letter! Do good things!
Love,
Elder E. Smith.
PS My new address! 128
Hollingham Road(BSMT
Markham, ON
L3R 7V9
Write me!
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